Open Access Khan et al., 1:8 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/scientificreports.409 Rapid Communication Open Access Open Access Scientific Reports Scientific Reports Open Access Volume 1 • Issue 8 • 2012 Te Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a developing country and has a population of more than 171 million people [1], although it has some large cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta but almost 65% of the population is still living in rural areas, with a per capita income of $ 408 per year. Te overall literacy rate is estimated to be 41.5% but is much lower for women particularly in small of the provinces [1,2]. Majority of the population take advantage of the free healthcare facility provided by the government in the public sector hospitals and health care units due to low income, but these facilities are generally short-stafed, congested, overburden and incompetent which cannot meet the requirements of the people visiting these facilities however due to poverty and lack of national health coverage and health insurance schemes, a huge section of the population is deprived to have even access to any healthcare facility [3,4]. According to economic Survey 2009-2010, in Pakistan, Government has allocated only 2.0 per cent for the education which is very less in comparison with the other South Asian countries rather one of the lowest in the developing countries. 65 percent of enrolled students attend the public sector schools where education supposed to be free or less expensive. Te quality of education in the public sector schools is usually very poor. Te well privileged or those who can aford, go to the private sector schools where most of the cases quality education is provided but usually very expensive and beyond the reach of the masses, however education in low fee private sector schools is also not satisfactory [5]. Another segment of society who usually cannot aford to go to school usually go the Madrasas (institutions where usually religious education is provided) where they get free boarding and lodging along with education. Still not all children in Pakistan are in school and yet another majority of the children who don’t go or cannot aford to go to any of the institutions rather they are on the streets or support their family by earning in diferent vocational palaces. According to the Pakistan Labor Force Survey (2007-2008), there are over 21 million children between 10 to 14 years of age out of which 2.68 million are employed [6]. Tere are too many local issues and problems including terrorism, poverty, joblessness and tension on the eastern and western borders, political and economical instability in the country. All these and other problems put the important sectors like education and health comparative in less priority and the government invests very less in these areas rather spends more in defense and to control the law and order situation in the country. Due to very less investment in education particularly in higher education and science the research bioethics seems to be luxury and no one speaks about this rather most of the time the politicians and the policy makers and even masses talk about the availability of basic needs and necessities. Bioethics or ethics in research is usually not thought as a separate subject at college or at university level, due which there is very less awareness and practices among the researches and professionals. Research is mandatory element to defne success of a nation. Te most challenging task is maintenance of highest ethical standards in research. Research on human subjects is very challenging in developed & under developed countries [7]. People are less willing to participate in research subjects unless well compensated in developed countries, this made research very expensive compared to developing countries. So the pool of *Corresponding author: Saeed Khan, Department of Molecular Pathology, Dow University of Health Sciences, University Road Karachi; E-mail: saeedkhn@gmail.com, saeed.khan@duhs.edu.pk Received March 21, 2012; Published October 30, 2012 Citation: Khan S, Mushtaq S, Arshad N, Lone NA (2012) The Current Status of Research Bioethics in Pakistan. 1:409. doi:10.4172/scientifcreports.409 Copyright: © 2012 Khan S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The Current Status of Research Bioethics in Pakistan Saeed Khan 1 *, Shamim Mushtaq 2 , Narmeen Arshad 1 and Nazir Ahmed Lone 3 1 Department of Molecular pathology, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Pakistan 2 National Center for Proteomic, University of Karachi 3 Karakoram International University, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan research is diverted towards developing countries but unfortunately outcome of the action has raised serious concerns to ensure the rights & ethical issues being well protected [8]. Te primary aim of this paper is to report the current status of bioethics in Pakistan and try to propose guidelines to help to resolve controversial issues in a practical way that would lead to both scientific and ethical progress in research in the country. Issues administered during bioethics research unethical application of science & modern medical technologies, collusion of health professionals, the physician pharma nexus quiet an unholy alliance, international organ trade & transplantation. Finally, we will look at the need to implement guidelines in structural policy changes. Te history of bioethics in Pakistan is a rather short one though in our country, there is a need for a major capacity building exercise in Bioethics and Research Bioethics. In Pakistan it is primarily members of the medical community, many trained in Western institutions, who take the lead in introducing modern bioethics into the country. Te frst proper move in this direction occurred in 1984 at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, where biomedical ethics was introduced in the curriculum of medical students at AKU by the Chairman of the Department of Community Health Sciences and later extended into the courses of the University’s School of Nursing. In Pakistan as other developing countries, there has been a great demand for research- ethics related programs. In 2001, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the certifying body for all graduating physicians and dentists, stipulated that biomedical ethics must be included in the medical curricula. However, this is still not the case in most of the country’s research institutions, medical colleges, universities and many still limit themselves to a few informative lectures on the subject during rotation of students through community health sciences. In January 2004 the Pakistani government approved the formation of the National Bioethics Committee with 20–21 members chaired by the Director General of Health at the Ministry of Health. Whereas the Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC) is the frst such Centre in Pakistan established in 2004 in SIUT (Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation) which conducts Master courses in Bioethics and plays its role to promote bioethical education, research and training in Pakistan [9]. To date the AKU Hospital is the only institution with a formal ethics consultation service, which is one of the functions of its Hospital Ethics Committee (HEC), initiated in 2000 [10]. Te Eastern Mediterranean Regional Organization (EMRO) of WHO has also